In 1585, Braun and Hogenberg published an atlas with maps of different cities in Europe, including many in the Netherlands. This map shows Maastricht. What is nice about these maps is that it shows the people in their local costumes. It shows all the houses in the city, and you can see the different expensions. The detail shows the main church in Maastricht, the St. Servaas. The blue color of the roof indicates it is an untaxed building, usually either religious or city buildings. You can see … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Goes, 1867
10 June 2024 by Leave a Comment
Between 1865-1868, Jacob Kuyper published a series of atlases with municipal maps. These show the location of all the hamlets, villages, and larger towns in the municipality, as well as the main roads and railroads. The Kuyper maps are often available at the websites of archives or via Wikimedia Commons. This week we are looking at Kuyper's map of Goes, in the province of Zeeland in 1867. It shows that Goes had a railroad connection to Bergen op Zoom and a railway station just south of the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Tourist map of Oisterwijk, 1933
3 June 2024 by 2 Comments
This week we are looking at a tourist map of Oisterwijk from 1933. It is a "wandelkaart" [walking map], which highlights various natural features like lakes (blue), forests (green), national forests (orange), swamps (blue horizontal stripes). It features the hotels in the area and places of interest including churches, a swimming pool, and cafes. The early 1900s saw the rise of tourism for the middle and upper classes. Railroads allowed people to travel across the country affordably and … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Border between Gelderland and Munster near Winterswijk, 1656
27 May 2024 by 3 Comments
This week's map was created in 1656 as part of a conference to settle a boundary dispute between Gelderland and Munster. Around Winterswijk, the border area was covered in moors, and it was unclear where Gelderland ended and Munster started. Farmers from both sides were continuously arguing over who had rights to graze sheep there or collect sods and firewood from those common areas. Nicolaas van Geelkercken was tasked with creating maps showing the border according to Gelderland sources. One … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Schermer land reclamation, 1635
20 May 2024 by Leave a Comment
This map shows the Scher-meer [Scher lake, also called Schermermeer], a lake that was drained between 1633 and 1635 to claim land. The map shows how this was done: a dike and ditch were built around the lake. Mills would pump water out of the lake, across the dike, into the surrounding ditch, from where it was carried to rivers and ultimately to the sea. Smaller ditches would criss-cross the lake to drain the land. The mills had to continously pump or the lake would fill up again. The Dutch … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Siege of Breda, 1624-1625
6 May 2024 by Leave a Comment
Wars often lead to the creation of maps. This week we are looking at a map of the siege of Breda in 1624-1625. The map shows how Breda had been surrounded by a line, just outside the reach of the city's canon. This allowed the attackers to cut supply lines while they besieged the city. This map is of personal interest to me since several of my ancestors lived in this area. One of them had his land confiscated during the siege to build the bank and ditch and fortlets around Breda. Read more … [Read more...]
Map of the week – Holland in 1832
29 April 2024 by Leave a Comment
This map of Holland appeared in an English atlas in 1832. This is two years after the Southern Netherlands split off to found the independent country of Belgium in 1830, but seven years before the Dutch government acknowledged the loss of these provinces and recognized Belgium as an independent country in 1839. In other words, we can see from the territory on the map that this 1832 map was not created in the Netherlands, since then it would have had the southern provinces too. The map shows … [Read more...]
Map of the week: Slangenrode farm near Utrecht
22 April 2024 by Leave a Comment
This map shows the Slangenrode farm with its meadows (green) and farmland (green). The farm was located in the Lageweide area between the Huppeldijk and Lageweidsdijk in Utrecht. The map dates from 1718. Although the catalog description does not tell us the purpose of the map, such maps are often created during court cases, for example to settle boundary disputes. You can also sometimes find them as part of estate management records of large landowners, for example map books of all the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Bodegraven around the church, 1664
15 April 2024 by Leave a Comment
Sometimes, maps are created in civil lawsuits, for example in boundary disputes. I love these maps for the details they provide, not just about the location but about the people in the community. This week we are looking at a map of Bodegraven that shows the houses around the church in 1664. The map was originally part of a law suit, but archivists in the 1800s separated all the maps from the rest of the cases to put in a map collection. That collection of Domestic Maps Hingman has a lot of … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Map of St. Eustatius, early 1700s
8 April 2024 by 1 Comment
Saint Eustatius in the West Indies is one of the Netherlands Antilles. In the 1700s, it was a colony of the Netherlands. This manuscript maps shows the island in the early 1700s and marks all the plantation owners on the map. The archival description says this map dates from the 18th century. Based on research on the island I recognize several of the names as plantation owners in the early 1700s. Translated legend with abbreviations resolved: A. The Lower Village B. The Upper … [Read more...]
